Transforming Our Industry
By Frances Tuke
I was so pleased to see sustainability at the top of the agenda for many discussions at The Travel Convention last week as it discussed the future of the travel industry.
Competitor destinations Greece and Spain in the Agora forum united to advance sustainability efforts in the areas of season extension, the promotion of off the beaten track regions and the integration of nature protection.
UK Director of the Spanish Tourist Office Manuel Butler outlined the importance of collaboration and how Spain is working to remodel Brits’ favourite destinations such as Calvia and Benidorm.
We heard from Deloitte about the rise of consumers buying from companies ‘with purpose’ – and how changing holiday behaviour might mean more voluntourism, slow travel and staycations.
The easyJet holidays’ boss Garry Wilson said that we shouldn’t blame the short-term rental sector for overtourism; reminded us of the importance of tourism partnering with communities, warned about how destinations need to be clear about what green taxes are funding and provided a glimpse of how easyJet will become net zero by 2050 – possibly with the help of carbon removal technologies – and certainly by making holidays ‘better’ and ‘sustainable holidays mainstream’.
In the investment in travel session, PWC explained that as consumer demand for sustainable travel is outstripping growth in the rest of the travel industry, travel companies committed to sustainable goals are of particular interest to investors.
In a parallel industry, Baroness Minette Batters former NFU president recalled how she switched the NFU’s focus to food and sustainability, told the government she could beat their carbon reduction targets by ten years and was stark in her assessment ‘if we hadn’t changed the way we produce food, we would’ve needed three earths.’ Decarbonisation is also good for business she assessed.
ABTA had chosen Costa Navarino as a destination for the Convention because of its strong environmental credentials and delegates heard that among their achievements, the developers of the region have grown the number of turtle nests on their beaches from 10 to 72.
While easyJet reported how all of their 350 employees are part of the ESG process, Richard Hammond of Green Traveller recommended that one of the best ways of engaging consumers and workforces alike is through storytelling.
His film Transforming My World: Evalyn's story, filmed in Kenya outlines just how compelling this can be.
It is right that sustainability is permeating throughout our industry. It is the only way we can transform it. And it is the future.